BRATISLAVA, March 18 (Reuters) - Here are news stories,
press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak
financial markets on Tuesday.
REPO TENDER
The central bank will hold its regular two-week repo tender,
by 1130 GMT.
AIRPORT PLANS
The Bratislava airport will hold a news conference to
present its development plans, 0900 GMT.
TELEFONICA RESULTS
Telefonica O2 Slovakia, a unit of Telefonica O2 Czech
Republic <>, will hold a news conference on 2007
results, 0900 GMT.
JOBLESS RATE FALLS TO 7.84 PCT IN FEB
Slovakia's unemployment rate fell to 7.84 percent in
February, from 8.06 percent the previous month, the Labour
Office said on Tuesday.
[] []
GOVT PARTY EYES LOWER VAT AFTER EURO
A junior Slovak government party wants to lower the value
added tax (VAT) on some food items to prevent their price
increase after a planned euro adoption in 2009, the daily Pravda
reported on Monday.
[] []
PRESS DIGEST
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SMER KEEPS LEAD IN POLL
The Smer party of Prime Minister Robert Fico keeps the
popularity lead, taking 42.8 percent in a Statistics Office
opinion poll in March. The SDKU party of ex-Prime Minister
Mikulas Dzurinda finished second with 14.7 percent.
Sme, page 4
HIGHWAY TENDER
The Public Procurement Office had returned a group made of
Alpine Bau, Hochtief <HOTG.DE> PPP Solution and Western
Carpathians Motorway Investors Company into the highway
construction tender worth 21.9 billion crowns ($1.07 billion).
Sme, page 7
SKY EUROPE DEAL
Bratislava airport has signed a new service agreement with
low-cost carrier SkyEurope <SKYV.VI>.
Sme, page 7
SOFTWARE PIRACY
Business Software Alliance said 45 of all software products
used in Slovakia were illegal, causing a financial damage of
more than 1 billion crowns.
Sme, page 7
U.S. VISA REGIME
Slovakia signed on Monday an agreement with the United
States that will lead to visa-free travel.
Pravda, page 1
SECOND PILLAR
More than 12,300 Slovaks have left the private pension
system by mid-March, the state-run social insurance company
said. Those who have left were mostly older than 40 and had
lower wages, the insurer said.
Pravda, page 20
PENTA ECQUISITION
The Slovak-based private equity group Penta has acquired
Russian food retailer chains Semja for approximately $200
million.
Pravda, page 20
Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it
vouch for their accuracy.
For news on upcoming events in the United States and other
Group of Seven countries, see <G7TODAY>. For a diary of
forthcoming Slovak events, double click [], and a
calendar of east European economic indicators, see [].
News editor of the day: Peter Laca on +421 2 5341 8402; fax:
+421 2 5341 8403
E-mail: editorial@reuters.sk
